Sunitha - First Date

September 3, 2361

Dear Diary,

It is the first day of university. It is lovely here and I am so excited. There are so many new faces, so many diverse faces, and so many things to do. I do miss India terribly, though, and my family. Sam, Dheeraj, even Amar. Amar has been with the Alliance for some time now, though, and I am used to not seeing him frequently. Sam is the one I miss the most. Not because I love him more than the others, but because he was always there with me. He was, and still is, my dearest friend. He said he would visit. I am hopeful.

November 16, 2361

Dear Diary,

Everything has been great. The people are so welcoming and I have made so many new friends. More importantly, though I suppose that is debatable, I have met a boy. I have never felt this way about anyone before. This is all new. And it is a bit scary. I am certain he feels the same, though. He has asked for my company at the cinema this coming Friday. I feel giddy and I feel I am smiling when I should not. But it is a wonderful feeling. I would like to introduce him to Sam. I am curious to see what Sam would think of him.

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Sunitha had never before been on a date. She had never even been in a room alone with a boy who wasn't related to her. It had amazed her new friends when she had told them she had never been on a date, never kissed a boy. They seemed to think it had something to do with her having grown up in India. Sunitha was more or less convinced that it was because she had three older brothers who could easily have intimidated any boy who had even shown the slightest bit of interest in her.Not to mention Sunitha had never really been interested in kissing anyone she had met back in India. Not the way she wanted to kiss Kevin, anyways.

Kevin. He had caught her eye during the very first week of classes. It must have been the eyes. Everyone she had ever met in India had had brown eyes. Sunitha was so bored of blue eyes. She examined her own brown eyes in the mirror. Perhaps examined was the wrong word. Scrutinized was more like it. Kevin's eyes were strikingly blue and so beautiful. Hers were brown. Brown and dull and not pretty at all. Kevin. Kevin. Kevin. He was all she could focus on. The sound of someone calling her name drew her attention away from her thoughts of Kevin, of his beautiful blue eyes. Her name was called again, more urgently this time.

It was just Jenna, her roommate. Jenna was her closest friend at the school, and right now, she was very concerned with making Sunitha look damn sexy for her first date ever. She had even offered to let Sunitha have the room to herself for the night. At first, Sunitha hadn't understood the offer. When Jenna explained it, Sunitha turned a bright shade of red and refused.Sure, she had fallen hard and fast for the guy, but that didn't mean she wanted to bang him on the first date!

"C'mon Sue, just lemme put some blush on ya! You'll look soooo great!" Sunitha simply looked at her friend and shook her head no.

"Thanks, Jenna, but I would prefer if you stick with helping me dress." Moving over to the wardrobe, Sunitha threw open the doors. She had absolutely no idea what to wear. Was there a certain expectation? Was she supposed to dress nicely? Did she have to wear a skirt? That was where she needed Jenna. Jenna had been on tons of dates before.

"Fine. See if I ever help you with your dates again." Jenna rolled her eyes, but there was a grin on the American's face as she moved hastily over to the wardrobe. Clothes were flying all over the room. Sunitha ran around trying to save them all from the dirty floor. Soon enough, there was a large pile of clothing in her arms. She threw it over her bed as she heaved a sigh. When she turned around, Jenna was giving her that look.

"What...?" Skepticism was all over her face. Or maybe it was fear. Either way, she was preparing herself for whatever might happen next. Jenna grabbed Sunitha and all but ripped the clothing from her small frame. Sunitha let out a small shriek as she attempted to cover herself. She was unsuccessful. It was mere minutes before Sunitha was dressed in something she never would have chosen. A blue low-cut shirt that showed more than she wanted to show. Her shoulders were bare, and her shoulders were never bare. Paired with the low-cut top was a black skirt that stopped just short of her knees. As she looked at herself in the mirror, her cheeks flushed. She could not wear this out. No way. Jenna seemed to read her mind and handed her a black cropped sweater with two buttons. It didn't do much but cover her shoulders.

"Oh, Sue! You look so GREAT!" Jenna fawned over Sunitha, combing her fingers through the other girl's hair. "Please, please, pleease don't change! Kev's gonna fall so hard for ya if ya wear this!" Sunitha felt the blush on her cheeks flare up again, just when it had been dying down. Nodding silently, she smiled at Jenna before forcefully shoving her out the door. "Hey! Wait! No, I was gonna--" The words were cut off by the door slamming shut. Sunitha leaned against the door. It was nice to finally have the room to herself, even if she could still kind of hear Jenna yelling at her through the heavy door.

Scrutinizing herself in the mirror again, she pulled the top up as high as it would go without showing her stomach or feeling too uncomfortable. It wasn't very high. Frowning, she searched, digging through the mound of clothing on her bed. Jenna had sure made it difficult to find a scarf in this mess. It was hopeless. She only had ten more minutes before Kevin was going to be knocking on her door. Her stomach was doing back-flips. She moved over to the mirror, carrying a small bag of make-up with her. The eyeliner sat on top. With careful fingers, she reached down and picked it up. Placing the bag down on the nearest surface, she put on a thin black line of eyeliner. It did little for her brown eyes, but then, Sunitha never liked her eyes. They were just so dull. After the eyeliner was just right, she found the eyeshadow in her tiny make-up bag. Blue. It would match the outfit Jenna had put her in. Just a hint, though, she didn't want it to be overbearing the way Jenna liked to wear her make-up.

There. Perfect. Well, almost perfect. Everything looked great aside from her being, well, her. Sunitha frowned. Maybe Kevin was just using her, trying to get in her pants and then leave her when she wasn't good enough or willing enough. There was no reason why a handsome guy like him should even look at a plain, little Indian girl like her. Her heart was hammering in her chest as she looked down at her iX device. He would be here at any minute. Sunitha wanted to call him, call it off. She didn't want to go. She wanted to wrap herself up in her blankets and stay there for the rest of eternity.

Then there was a knock at her door. For several seconds, Sunitha just stood there, her eyes wide, her heart pounding. The sound of blood rushed in her ears and her mouth felt like it was full of cotton. No, she couldn't do this. She wasn't ready; she simply wasn't ready.

But she opened the door anyways, a nervous smile on her face. There he was, as handsome as ever in his jeans and plain old tee. She could feel his eyes on her, burning through her. His gaze, she knew, had lingered on that dip in her shirt just a little bit longer than was proper and her cheeks flared with color. Silently, he offered her his arm. With her smile growing, she looped her own arm through his. It was going to be a magical night.